


tell you my sins

by tin_tweezers



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Cutting, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, M/M, Self Harm, Suicide mention, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, post episode 97
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-03
Updated: 2020-03-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:47:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22998673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tin_tweezers/pseuds/tin_tweezers
Summary: Essek hurts. Caleb helps.
Relationships: Essek Thelyss/Caleb Widogast
Comments: 4
Kudos: 49





	tell you my sins

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired (enabled) by a late night conversation in the Shadowgast discord.

The chain to his cell rattled as the door was unlocked. It was his only warning that someone had entered the room.

“Stop.”

They’d given him a razor to shave. He dropped it into the basin like he’d been burned and clutched his forearm to his body, hiding it in the folds of his wrinkled evening wear. It was, he reflected, too late to hide the marks, but the gesture felt like it was expected of him.

“That’s not for you to do.”

Caleb sounded tired.

“I see,” Essek said to the mirror, eventually. “I’ve failed a test.”

“What?”

“You wanted to see whether I’d keep my word or try to... escape in the night,” Essek heard his voice at a distance, dry as a desert. “Rest assured, Caleb. The cuts are shallow. You’ll still have a prisoner who breathes, come the morrow.”

Calloused hands on his neck and shoulder, light but insistent. Caleb turned him gently, shadowed eyes flickering down to watch the blood drip warmly to the floor.

“I said, that’s not for you to do,” and Caleb’s voice was low, and Essek’s heart was pounding in his ears.

Caleb delicately reached past him into the basin and retrieved the razor. His eyes found Essek’s.

“Let me.”


End file.
